Giancarlo Fisichella'a lap of Montreal.

Blessed with a series of Canadian podium finishes in his short Formula One career, Giancarlo Fisichella is perhaps one of the best-qualified drivers in the field to describe a lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Italian has enjoyed success in Montreal almost from the time he first climbed aboard a grand prix car - with four podium finishes in five years with Jordan and Benetton - and looks forward to returning to Canada each season. Although this year may be tougher than most, courtesy of a less than competitive Benetton-Renault combination, Fisichella's ambition remains undimmed.

''I start the lap on the short pit straight, reaching around 300kph in fifth gear, before braking hard for the first corner. The first part of this corner is a left-hander taken in second gear at around 112kph but, as soon as I exit this part of the corner, I drop down to first gear, using the brakes very lightly, to set the car up for the very tight right-hand corner. I hit the apex at around 65kph, followed by a short straight leading up to the next chicane, which I approach at 260kph in fourth gear.

''This chicane is typical of the circuit, and I will take it in third gear, with the first part at 120kph then accelerating gently to take the left-hand part at 140kph. This is followed by the only fast corner on the circuit, taken in fourth at around 250kph. While this corner does produce high G-loading, it is easily flat and not a problem.

''I will exit this corner at 265kph and, as soon as the lateral load comes off the car, I will brake hard for the next chicane. I will enter in second gear at around 82kph and, once again for the second part of the chicane, I'll gently accelerate and balance the car, accelerating up through 130kph and taking third gear right on the exit of the corner.

''The next straight is again a fifth gear straight, where I'll reach a top speed of around 300kph before braking under the bridge for the next chicane. The braking area here can be quite tricky as, offline, it is very bumpy. While there is an overtaking opportunity, I will need to be very careful if I have to brake late in the bumpy area. I will then drop down to second gear for the chicane, taking the first right-hand part at around 100kph and once again accelerating easily while balancing the car to take the second part at around 140kph.

''The back straight, where I reach around 300kph in top gear, leads to the very heavy braking, first gear, hairpin at the top of the circuit, which I will apex at 55kph. At the exit of this corner, it is particularly important to try and put power on early in order to get a good top speed on the main straight - this year we are expecting the top speed to approach 330kph.

''The lap finishes on a very difficult chicane before the pits, where I'll need to bring my speed down from around 325kph to 115kph, and second gear, in the 115m braking distance, which will take around 1.9 seconds. On the exit, I will again accelerate up to around 140kph and will get very close to the wall on the exit. This corner is made all the more difficult as it can often be covered in dirt kicked up by cars that clip the apex. A good exit from here leads me back to the start-finish line."